TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kim,Sukkoo
TI  - Industrialization and Urbanization: Did the Steam Engine Contribute to the Growth of Cities in the United States?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11206
PY  - 2005
Y2  - March 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11206
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11206.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sukkoo Kim
Department of Economics
Washington University
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
Tel: 314/935-4961
Fax: 314/935-4156
E-Mail: soks@artsci.wustl.edu
M1  - published as Kim, Sukkoo. "Industrialization And Urbanization: Did The Steam Engine Contribute To The Growth Of Cities In The United States?," Explorations in Economic History, 2005, v42(4,Oct), 586-598.
AB  - Industrialization and urbanization are seen as interdependent processes of modern economic development. However, the exact nature of their causal relationship is still open to considerable debate. This paper uses firm-level data from the manuscripts of the decennial censuses between 1850 and 1880 to examine whether the adoption of the steam engine as the primary power source by manufacturers during industrialization contributed to urbanization. While the data indicate that steam-powered firms were more likely to locate in urban areas than water-powered firms, the adoption of the steam engine did not contribute substantially to urbanization.
ER  -